Review of Nietzsche's Engagements with Kant and the Kantian Legacy, vol. 1: Nietzsche, Kant, and the Problem of Metaphysics ed. by Marco Brusotti and Herman Siemens (original) (raw)
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This essay seeks to show how a psychological interpretation of the 'will to power' would have been implausible if not impossible for Nietzsche given his other philosophical commitments and aims. These aims include 'tracing man back into nature' and revaluing values. The philosophical commitments include his Heraclichean metaphysics of fatalism, 'becoming' and a necessary 'flow' in nature and his dismissal of freewill. This study shows how these themes are ever-present in his middle to late periods and thus constrain the will to power to its broadest interpretation, that being an ontological principle in nature. This I regard as a far more charitable and compatible reading with his dismissal of 'freewill', 'causation' and 'atomism', a reading that also concurs with aspects of the science and philosophy of his day, as well as more recent findings from the sciences, than does a psychological or biological interpretation.
Nietzsche and the Limitations of the Will to Power
Nietzsche’s notion of the will to power has long been misunderstood and not given sufficient attention for its utility in understanding social dynamics. Much of this trouble is a function of the polemic overtones of Nietzsche’s writing style. We should read Nietzsche not as a Nazi, nihilist, or motivational speaker–as many have in the past–but rather as a perspectivist illuminating a serendipity by which we can understand much of the world–i.e., will to power. This paper will advance an immanent critique of the self-sufficiency of Nietzsche's notion of the will to power. Following an overview of the notion and how it should be interpreted, will to power will put it through a “stress test.” This paper will show precisely where the notion “breaks” and how we should remedy this shortcoming with a supplemented understanding of will–namely with my notion of will to decadence. The utility of this supplemented understanding of will is it better explains various forms of decadence (i.e., decay and stagnation) in art and aesthetics in a manner which Nietzsche’s notion of the will to power alone cannot.
Nietzsche's Late Pragmatic Anthropology
Journal of Philosophical Research, 2015
Aim of this paper is to shed light on Nietzsche's observations on the European human type (Typus Mensch), by paying especial attention to the observations presented in Twilight of the Idols. I shall argue that Nietzsche's approach can be seen as a “pragmatic anthropology” in Kantian sense. Although the paper focuses on Nietzsche’s thought, an analysis of some aspects of Kant’s 1798 Anthropology and a comparison between Kant's and Nietzsche’s views of humankind, will show both their differences and similarities on the topic.